#torquigener

[svenson777]

Torquigener

[earthstory]

A Pufferfish's Garden

For years divers off the coast of Japan encountered these enormous, 2 metre diameter 'mystery circles' on the sandy sea floor. A few years ago we found out who was making them.

This huge underwater crop-circle is the mating display of the male Torquigener pufferfish. The small (12 cm) fish takes 7-9 days to meticulously prepare one of these elaborate gardens. It seems that the sole purpose of the garden is to attract a mate, and provide a good site to lay her eggs.

If their garden catches a mate's eye, the male will hang around for another 6 days to care for the eggs, before moving on to a new location, and starting a new garden.

This small pufferfish produces one of the most elaborate displays known in nature.

OB

Image Credit: http://goo.gl/PCahFI

Original Article: http://goo.gl/Nh85tD

A Video (Attenborough!): http://goo.gl/9TmPI4

[oceansoftheworld]

Pufferfish masterpiece

The circles, scientists say, are actually nests created by male pufferfish, which spend about ten days carefully constructing and decorating the structures to woo females. What’s more, this industrious pufferfish is thought to be a new species in the Torquigener genus, according to the study, published July 1 in the journal Scientific Reports..

Learn More:  What’s This Mysterious Circle on the Seafloor?

Pufferfish

[matematicascercanas-oficial]

El artista geómetra del fondo del mar - MatematicasCercanas

En el fondo marino de las costas del sur de Japón aparecen unas estructuras geométricas circulares conocidas como "círculos misteriosos"... ¿Quién las hace?

[drhoz]

Video of an Isopod hitching a ride on a Weeping Toadfish at Bulk Jetty.

probably parasitic

[drhoz]

#1097 - Torquigener pleurogramma - Banded Toadfish

AKA Common Toadfish,  Weeping Toado and Weeping Toadfish. Found across most of Australia’s southern coasts. One of the most commonly seen fish around Perth’s beaches and waterways - possibly because they’re deadly poisonous, and aren’t as afraid of predators or people as other fish might be. That said, our seagulls have figured out that parts of them are edible, outside of the fish’s breeding season. The poison, tetradotoxin, is one of the deadliest neurotoxins found in nature, and is named after the toadfish-pufferfish family, the Tetraodontidae (although the same poison is also used by other fish, blue-ringed octopus, various worms, certain crabs and starfish, harlequin toads and western rough-skinned newts, and seems to be derived from symbiotic bacteria. It has a quite odd chemical structure, too). The fish themselves get the name from their four large teeth fused into a powerful beak.

Torquigener refers to the large - sometimes very large - wheel shaped structures some toadfish build on sandy seafloors during breeding season, but I don’t know if this particular species has that habit.

If you go fishing, snorkelling, or wading on any Perth beach or estuary, you can guarantee that some will turn up to steal your bait, or search through the sand you kick up. 

In these photos at Point Peron, hundreds had gathered into dense schools. It was pretty wonderful, actually. Photos by @gemfyre